Abstract: The disclosed technology identifies bottlenecks in a hierarchical storage subsystem and, based upon the rate at which data may be transmitted through a particular bottleneck, determines the smallest number of disk drives required to match that transmission rate. If the required number of disks is less than the total number of disks, only a subset of the total number are maintained in an active state with the remainder places in either a “standby” or “off” mode. In this manner, overall system power consumption is reduced. In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques are implemented by active disk management at high level of storage infrastructure.

Abstract: The disclosed technology identifies bottlenecks in a hierarchical storage subsystem and, based upon the rate at which data may be transmitted through a particular bottleneck, determines the smallest number of disk drives required to match that transmission rate. If the required number of disks is less than the total number of disks, only a subset of the total number are maintained in an active state with the remainder places in either a “standby” or “off” mode. In this manner, overall system power consumption is reduced. In one embodiment, the disclosed techniques are implemented by active disk management at high level of storage infrastructure.

Abstract: A system for balancing multiple memory buffer sizes includes a memory partitioned into a plurality of subgroups, each subgroup containing similarly sized buffers. The system further includes a memory manager which manages requests for buffer space by storing and accessing buffer steal history records in a buffer steal history queue.

Abstract: A system for balancing multiple memory buffer sizes includes a memory partitioned into a plurality of subgroups, each subgroup containing similarly sized buffers. The system further includes a memory manager which manages requests for buffer space by storing and accessing buffer steal history records in a buffer steal history queue.